


you're the one i need (you're the only one i see)

by dayafterdae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Biology Class, Light Angst, M/M, Sassy Sehun, a mess, football player! baekhyun, normal student jongdae, stupid breakup notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26653867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayafterdae/pseuds/dayafterdae
Summary: who knew that all it took was a mis delivery of a breakup note for jongdae kim to actually start talking to his long term crush: baekhyun byun.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen, Byun Baekhyun/Kim Taeyeon
Comments: 20
Kudos: 127
Collections: Shall we Chen? Fictional Fest First Round





	you're the one i need (you're the only one i see)

**Author's Note:**

> title from 'love on top' by beyonce lol  
> ever since they released the pitch perfect reunion thingy i've been obsessed with this song 
> 
> prompt code: swc471
> 
> thank you mods for organizing this fest!! (and being so understanding about extensions and stuff!!)
> 
> this is like my first time writing like a full on fic, so hopefully it isn't too bad :\\\  
> this is also kinda unbeated so sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes 
> 
> to prompter; thank you for prompting and i hope you like the direction i took the prompt :-) 
> 
> and happy (late) bday kim jongdae, i love you foreverrr

_{ Let’s finally meet face to face! See you on the rooftop after practice? - Chen }_

Jongdae anxiously placed this note into Baekhyun’s locker. Jongdae was hopeful, that at least from the notes Baekhyun had written back to him, that the other maybe, even if just the _tiniest bit_ , had feelings for him. 

The rest of the day, Jongdae could not focus on school, just watching the minutes slowly tick by on the clock. This officially felt like the longest day of his life. 

When the last bell rang, Jongdae stayed in the library, preoccupied with the time, even though he was trying to catch up on the school work that had piled up from today.

 _Finally_ , the clock showed 4:45. Jongdae packed up his bags and headed to the rooftop. Earlier, Jongdae had asked his partner in lab, Chanyeol, who was also on the football team, if they had practice today, and if they did, what time it ended. 

Chanyeol had given him a weird look, but replied with a ‘yes’ and that it ended at five because of the game tomorrow. Jongdae had thanked him and offered no further explanation.

His heart thumped as he walked up the stairs to the rooftop. He really could not believe he was doing this right now. How was he even going to do it? Would he explain the whole situation, about how he became note buddies with Baekhyun and then confess to him? Or would him being there already answer the question of who he was and he should just confess right away? His stomach was feeling queasy. Was he _really_ going to confess to _the_ Baekhyun Byun, his crush since 6th grade? 

Apparently not, because Baekhyun never showed up. 

He stayed on the rooftop for a little over an hour, and to be honest, if it hadn’t started raining, Jongdae probably would’ve been up there for longer. 

Soaked, Jongdae trudged down the stairs. He felt like crying. Of course Baekhyun wouldn’t have shown up, why did he think that he would? Jongdae was just a nobody in Baekhyun’s life, just a faceless person that he wrote notes to once in a while. 

Caught up in his thoughts, Jongdae didn’t notice that his feet had led him just outside of the football team's locker room. 

“Kim Jongdae, you’re really this desperate, huh,” he whispered to himself. 

As he was about to walk away, he heard a bang, followed by (what seemed like?) a groan from inside the locker room. Nervous that someone had slipped and fallen, he quickly made his way into the locker room, only to be met with a sight that immediately made him rush out, tears making their way down his face. 

Baekhyun never mentioned he had a girlfriend.

\---

_6 months ago_

Everything started as an accident. 

Unfortunately, Jongdae had been cursed with Oh Sehun as his best friend. They had grown up together, and their parents were close, which ultimately led Jongdae and Sehun to being best friends. Despite this, Sehun was the complete opposite of Jongdae. 

For starters, Jongdae is older than Sehun by a year, but age hardly mattered, as Sehun was already a good half a foot taller than him and looked like a man, while Jongdae still looked like a twelve-year-old boy that had yet to hit puberty. But age and looks were not the only differences. Sehun, who was only a freshman, was steadily gaining popularity after joining the football team, earning the affection of upperclassmen and girls, and basking in the attention. 

Jongdae was just a normal high school student. Not a lot of people knew him, and if they did know him it was from class. He kept to himself and did not seek out to meet new people unless needed. 

Not to mention, Sehun was also in his 6th relationship of the school year, while Jongdae had been single since the day he was born. 

The thing was, Sehun got bored easily. He went from one relationship to another so quickly because, well, he lost interest very quickly. Apparently, he had also gotten bored of breaking up with his significant others because he had somehow roped Jongdae into breaking up with his partners for him. 

It was only supposed to be a one time thing. And the only reason Jongdae agreed was because Sehun used his only weakness against him— _Tiger Sugar_ bubble tea.

Jongdae had developed an unhealthy obsession for the bubble tea brand and although it is very, very good, Jongdae’s wallet couldn’t handle his current routine of getting boba almost everyday after school. Sehun, blessed with a wealthy family, had no problem feeding his best friend’s obsession, with the only exception being to help him break up with his current girlfriend. 

He really should’ve rejected the offer, but it was too good to pass up. And honestly, Jongdae had met Sehun’s girlfriend at the time and he thought Sehun’s whole plan of getting Jongdae to do his dirty work was just going to backfire on him. He thought she was going to confront him, making his life so much more difficult, and Jongdae would just be on the side watching Sehun getting yelled at by his “ex” girlfriend while drinking his bubble tea. But the whole problem was that Jongdae “thought” this was what was going to happen. 

So, not wanting to use his real name, he somehow came up with the fake name of Chen, and wrote out a little letter that went like this:

_{ Hello. I am very sorry to inform you that your current boyfriend Oh Sehun has decided that this relationship is not something he would like to pursue, therefore he sent me to let you know that he is officially breaking up with you. I’m sorry and I hope you are able to move on with your life. - Chen }_

Instead of throwing a big fit, Sehun’s girlfriend accepted the letter and literally moved on with her life (She got another boyfriend the next day). 

And that was what started this entire system. At first, Jongdae refused to do it again. But, alas, Sehun had more tricks up his sleeve, as he proceeded to threaten Jongdae with his _crush_. The slight mention of that word had shut him up, followed with a quiet, “What’s the locker number.” 

So, whenever Sehun wanted to break it off with someone, he would let Jongdae know and by the end of the day there would be a bright yellow letter slipped into the unfortunate person’s locker. 

\---

“Okay so, you know Sooyoung?” Sehun started. Jongdae knew where this conversation was heading. 

“Already? You literally just started dating her like the beginning of last week,” Jongdae stated, not sparing a look at Sehun, who had already sat down at their lunch table. 

“Yeah, but I don’t know,” he sighed, “I only really asked her out because the guys on the team were pressuring me and saying how she had a crush on me and how we would look good together and everything.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. “That has literally been your excuse for the past like what,” he paused and started counting them in his head while simultaneously putting his fingers down. 

Sehun shoved him lightly in the shoulder, “Stop being dramatic, it hasn’t even been that many times.”

“Whatever gets you to sleep at night,” Jongdae murmured under his breath, “Whatever, this literally happens so often that I have pre written break up letters ready to go in my backpack, do you know how bad this is?” he scolds. He finally looks over at Sehun, and just sees him preoccupied with his lunch and phone. Jongdae needs to do some damage control. 

“Sehun Oh,” Jongdae never says his full name unless it's something serious, and they both know that, which is why Sehun directs all of his attention onto Jongdae, “I’ll do it this time but after that _Chen_ is going on a hiatus.”

Sehun immediately opens his mouth to refute but Jongdae doesn’t let him. 

“So you better be single for a while, actually stay in a relationship for two months, or break up with them yourself for the time being. End of conversation.”

\--- 

“Locker 421? Or was it 214?”

Jongdae, for the life of him, could not remember the locker number that Sehun had said to him during lunch. He had told the brat to message the number to him, but it seems like he had forgotten and how he really has no way to reach Sehun because he was at practice. 

“Think Jongdae think,” he repeatedly said to himself, as if it would somehow retrieve the numbers from inside his head. But he was still stuck between those two locker numbers. He could've just waited until tomorrow to deliver the letter, but tomorrow was Saturday meaning he would have to wait till Monday to deliver the note. But, he was over it and didn’t want to think about it over the weekend, so, he took an educated guess, since he had seen Sooyoung near the 400 lockers more than the 200 lockers, and slipped the signature bright yellow note into locker 421. 

And this was the worst mistake of his life. 

\---

~ sehunnie ~

monday 7:08 am 

<< kim jongdae, did you put the letter in her locker on friday >>

>> um yeah, why? <<

<< she literally just came up to me and kissed me on the cheek >>

>> maybe she didn’t see the note yet <<

>> i mean she could’ve wanted to say hi to you before opening her locker <<

<< no her backpack literally isn’t on her >>

<< so i’m pretty sure that she had already went to her locker >>

<< meaning she should’ve seen the BRIGHT yellow note >>

>> what was the locker number again?<<

<< 214 >>

<< bro don’t tell me >>

>> you’re joking right <<

>> shit <<

>> I TOLD YOU TO MESSAGE ME THE LOCKER NUMBER <<

<< I LITERALLY TOLD YOU IT DURING LUNCH >>  
<< I DIDN’T REALIZE YOU LITERALLY HAVE A MEMORY OF A CARROT >>

Jongdae made a sound of frustration, causing those around him to stare. But that was the least of his worries, because now, he had to go put a note in the correct locker, and the owner of locker 421 is going to find a random break up letter in his locker that doesn’t even make sense. This day could not get any worse. 

It turns out it can. 

He had a math project due, which he had completely forgotten about, and on top of that he did not read the assigned pages for english, meaning that he had probably failed the mini quiz that the teacher gave. It was also gym day, which he had forgotten, so he had walked out of the locker room with a shirt, pants, and shoes that were at least 2 sizes too big on him. He had also promised the librarian that he would help her re shelf books after school, meaning he could not go home for another hour or two. 

But this was also convenient because he was able to slip the note into the correct locker when everyone had left the school. 

After slipping the note into Sooyoung’s locker, he made his way towards the main doors to finally leave school and go home, but as he was walking by the 400 lockers, a bright yellow note caught his eye. It was taped onto the outside of locker 421, and on top of it were the words “For Chen.”

Jongdae quickly looked around the hallway to make sure there was nobody around him before taking the note off the locker and shoving it in his pocket. 

This was the first time anyone has ever written back to him, and he guesses it makes sense because well the note was never supposed to be there in the first place. Although he was curious as to what was written inside the note, he couldn’t risk the chance of someone seeing him read the note in front of the locker. So he quickly hurried home. 

\---

_{ Oh Sehun is breaking up with me? I didn’t even realize that I was dating him lol, never in a million years did I think I would ever receive a letter from the heart breaking Chen. }_

So maybe his notes had become a well known subject that the school had always talked about. It had become such a big deal that whoever dated Sehun knew what was coming the second they spotted the piece of paper in their lockers. They wouldn’t even try to convince him to take them back or anything, they just accepted it and moved on. 

But the greatest mystery of all to the student body was ‘who was Chen’. Jongdae was very secretive in his work, literally waiting the last minute until he knew everyone had left before approaching the lucky locker of the day and putting the note in it. 

There had been many who tried to seek him out, like Sehun’s past crazy girlfriends, but no one ever suspected him, the quiet boy who sat in the corner of every class, and was only seen with Sehun every lunch period. Given the circumstances, maybe if some of the people in his class were brighter, they would be able to put two and two together, but the only time that he got confronted, all he had to say was ‘No, it’s not me’, and everyone left him alone. 

_{ But anyways, who are you? I know Sehun pretty well but he literally will never ever tell ANYONE who’s writing all these notes for him!! Can you believe it? Well I guess you can because you’re trying to keep your identity hidden and everything, but you do seem like an interesting person. But, like why do you do it? - BBH }_

BBH? Who does Sehun know that has those initials? B-B-H, B-B-H. And then it clicked. 

Oh my gosh no way. There was no way, but it was the only person that made sense. 

Baekhyun Byun. Quarterback of the high school football team. Straight A’s and Honor roll student. Literally every girl (and guy’s) dream boy. And most importantly, Jongdae's crush. 

Jongdae crumpled up the paper and threw it away. He was not going to get himself into a mess. He didn’t have to reply to Baekhyun, heck if it even was Baekhyun. But he couldn’t help to think what if. What if it was Baekhyun and what if somehow he finds out that Jongdae is Chen, and what if it leads him to thinking Jongdae is this rude classmate that couldn’t even bother to respond to this freakin note. 

So, by the end of the whole mess of a situation that Jongdae had came up with in his head, he decided the best thing to do was to write a note, _politely_ , telling Baekhyun that who Chen was was none of his business, leading them to never ever having to talk again. 

Except things really never work out the way he wants them to because literally at the end of the day there was another note stuck to locker 421. 

Jongdae never thought he would be saying this, but he really wished that Baekhyun would leave him alone and stop trying to get to know him - well not him per se, but Chen. So, he did what he thought was the best and just ignored the note. But it just stayed on the locker, haunting him, for the next couple of days. He couldn't just ignore it anymore, so a week after the note was stuck onto Baekhyun’s locker, he finally took it off. 

_{ Okay, I get it, you don’t want people to know who you are, but since you did accidentally slip a break up letter into my locker, I thought it would be nice to get to know this person. And you seem like someone that I would want to be friends with!! So let’s play 20 questions? You start! - BBH }_

And Jongdae just couldn’t leave the note hanging, so he wrote on a blue note, which stated: 

_{ What’s your favorite color? - Chen }_

Short and simple. Allowing Jongdae to indulge in his urges that want to get to know his crush, and forming a connection with him while at the same time creating a clear boundary that he does not want this to go any further than it should. 

So, for the next month, it became a routine for Jongdae to stop at the 400s locker block everyday after school to either place a note into the locker or take the note that was taped onto locker 421. Everyday he was learning something new about Baekhyun, someone that he admired and crushed on since 6th grade. 

_Jongdae and Baekhyun had been in the same school district together since kindergarten. Growing up in a heavily white populated area, him and Baekhyun were one of the few Asians in his grade, in the community. However, their paths never really crossed. If we are talking about cliques, Jongdae stuck with the nerds, while Baekhyun associated himself with the jocks. Even though he technically grew up with Baekhyun, Jongdae really never noticed him till sixth grade._

_For some reason, Jongdae’s vision was deteriorating at the prime age of 12, and he hadn’t noticed it until he told his mom that things were blurry and she immediately took him to the eye doctor. Later that day, Jongdae had what seemed like a brand new set of eyes along with a pair of black framed glasses on his face. It wasn’t that he got made fun of for his glasses, but he knew that he didn’t look the best in them, that’s why some days he would “accidently” forget his glasses at home, leaving him squinting at the whiteboard for the rest of the day. Teachers have pointed it out, telling Jongdae to bring his glasses to school but most of the time he just ignored them and ended up squinting at the boards. It was midterms week and Jongdae actually did forget this glasses this time (he promised his mom that he would keep an extra pair in his backpack but it took it out the other day for something and forgot to put it back) which was by he was very focused on the clock was that way too far from him, trying to figure out the time. He was about to give up and just estimate the time when he saw a hand shoot up from beside him form a one, two, three, zero. There was Baekhyun Byun, beside Jongdae, telling him the time because he had noticed the struggle that he was going through. Jongdae just shyly smiled at him and mouthed a ‘thank you’ before receiving a bright grin from Baekhyun. And (not to sound cliche or anything) that’s when Jongdae fell… hard. After that day, he did try to become friends with Baekhyun but socially they were apart of two different cliques, and if they had classes together, both had friends in the class and the teachers weren’t strict to the point that they would assign groups for partner work, so Jongdae was stuck with admiring from afar._

Notes were exchanged, with questions that allowed not only Jongdae, but also Baekhyun to get to know the other. As Jongdae received a new note from Baekhyun (almost) everyday, he could feel himself falling deeper and deeper for Baekhyun. 

Finally, it was the last note. The answer to Baekhyun’s 20th question. 

It was up to Baekhyun whether or not he wanted the notes to continue, and to be completely honest, Jongdae was slightly hoping that he would see another note taped onto the locker the next day, but of course the next day was the weekend, so he spent the next two days wrapped up in his head, convincing himself that he wouldn’t be hurt if there wasn’t anything there on Monday. 

But of course Jongdae really didn’t need to worry at all because as he walked to his locker on Monday morning, a bright pink note was stuck on Baekhyun’s locker. 

And that was the last sign that Jongdae needed to finally send him the note that he had been itching to write since they first started talking. 

\--- 

_present day_

The note on Baekhyun’s locker the next day didn’t make him feel any better. 

_{ I’m sorry, I got caught up with something, let’s set up another time? - BBH }_

Jongdae scoffed. How dare he try an-. 

_Stop._ He needs to stop victimizing himself because if anything Jongdae is the one being unreasonable right now. He was the one that had read too deep into basic words, which lead to him creating this fake narrative in his mind, which caused him to get his hopes up, which resulted in him sobbing on Sehun’s front porch, soaked, on a friday night. 

Without asking any questions, Sehun had led him into his house, grabbed clothes for him, and pushed him into the shower. After Jongdae got out, there was ramen waiting for him on the kitchen table and Sehun just sat there and listened as Jongdae vented and ranted about Baekhyun. He hadn’t even told Sehun that he was exchanging notes with Baekhyun, but instead of raising any questions, Sehun just sat there until he was done talking. 

“A-and then he was in the _locker room_ , mak-making out with a girl, I couldn’t even see her face,” the image flashed across his mind, making him cry even harder. After so many years crushing on Baekhyun, never had he thought that he would ever have a chance with him. But he had somehow created this hope that maybe they could be the cute couple in school, but all this hope just led to Jongdae crying in front of Sehun. 

“Yeah, it was probably Taeyeon. There have been rumors of them becoming a thing, maybe they finally became official after today,” Sehun mentioned nonchalantly, continuing to slurp his noodles (he was never the best at comforting people). 

After hearing that Jongdae froze. His brain was shutting down. Taeyeon. Taeyeon Kim. One year above Jongdae, the star of the choir, _and_ co captain of the cheerleading squad. The one that all the upper and lower classmen went after but could never get. _That_ Taeyeon Kim. There was literally no way he could compete with her, and sadly, he liked Taeyeon. He always admired her and looked up to her, and they even interacted a couple of times and there was no reason for Jongdae to all of the sudden hate her. 

To be honest, it made sense that Taeyeon and Baekhyun would eventually become a thing. And while his head rambled on about everything that made Taeyeon and Baekhyun the IT couple, he zoned out. Until Sehun decided to, literally, shake him out of his thoughts. 

“Jongdae, buddy,” Sehun said, gripping his shoulders and staring him down, “You need to get over him.”

“It’s literally just a crush, it’s no big dea-”

“No, Jongdae, listen. You need to get over this crush you have on him. He didn’t even reject you directly and you’re like _this_ ” Sehun gestured at Jongdae. “He doesn’t even know you, like actually. He knows of you, maybe, but this note exchanging thingy that you guys have going on isn’t helping. You need to move on from him, stop allowing yourself to get hopeful for something that could maybe never happen. You need to let go of him.

... and also, you don’t even know if he swings that way.” 

\---

Jongdae needed to cut off all communication ASAP. Sehun was right (for once) and Jongdae did let himself get wrapped up in this whirlstorm of Baekhyun Byun (WITHOUT PHYSICALLY TALKING TO HIM AT ALL). It had been a couple of days since he had received the note from Baekhyun, and right now he was just considering not answering and moving on with his life. 

But that would be rude and believe it or not, he had considered Baekhyun as a friend, like an internet friend of some sort but not really. A couple days had passed and he had forgotten about the note Baekhyun had sent, until he saw it, crumpled up, lying at the bottom of his backpack as he was cleaning it out. By now it had been 2 weeks and nothing was said between them, so instead of doing anything, Jongdae just never responded to him and their “relationship” ended there. 

Baekhyun never really did anything else to reach out so their communication stopped and both of them went on with their lives. 

Jongdae still did look for him in the hallways and call him crazy but he swore that he caught Baekhyun staring at him a couple times (but that really doesn’t make sense since Baekhyun doesn’t know that he was his note buddy).

But Baekhyun’s relationship with Taeyeon became public knowledge, and they became the “it” couple on campus. Everyone wanted a relationship like theirs. Taeyeon would always be at Baekhyun’s games, cheering him on on the side lines, and Baekhyun would be seen at every single one of her performances and shows, right in the front seat. And surprise surprise, they were chosen as Prom King and Queen. 

Staying true to his word, Jongdae tried his best to block Baekhyun out of his life. He actually became close friends with Chanyeol and reconnected with Kyungsoo, an elementary friend of his who had moved a couple years ago. 

And by the end of sophomore year, Jongdae could (kinda) confidently say that his crush on Baekhyun was now nonexistent. He had other more important matters on hand, and real relationships with people who actually knew who he was and he slowly just stopped caring about Baekhyun. Granted he still thinks that he’s hot, but now if anything maybe Jongdae would like to be friends with him, but all the want of a romantic relationship is gone. 

… Or so he thought.

(and the whole “being the break up person for Sehun” stopped when Jongdae decided he was actually financially stable enough to get himself bubble tea - read: now Chanyeol usually pays for Jongdae and he’s too nice to ask for anything in return XD) 

\---

_Two years later_

Senior year. Finally. 

Jongdae was so excited. He could not wait to finally get out of this tiny town and go to college. He was ready, and there was only one more year to go.

And he was going to make this the best year of high school yet. 

When he arrived, per usual, the hallways were packed. Students all trying to find their new classes, or to see if they even have friends in their classes. Jongdae had already compared schedules with Chanyeol, and luckily, their schedules were practically identical, except for the last two periods; Jongdae was taking AP biology while Chanyeol was taking a music theory class (that Jongdae had already taken in 10th grade) and he had open campus last period. 

The day speeds on and finally he’s walking into the classroom alone. It’s set up like any normal science classroom, blocks of desks that sit two people cover most of the classroom. At the front there is a mirror hanging from the ceiling (so students can see what the teacher is doing) along with a sink on the front table. There are also sinks placed around the room along with paper towel dispensers. There are also shelves placed around the classroom, filled with beakers, graduated cylinders, and other science tools. Most importantly there was a fish tank placed in the corner of the room, with two fish swimming around. 

Sadly, Jongdae literally had nobody that he knew in this class. 

None of his (very few) friends were interested in taking the class, and even the people that he were “school friends” with either did take it or had it during the earlier class period. 

There were already a couple of students in the classroom, but no one that Jongdae really talked to. He quickly made his way to the second to last row, picking the block of desk that is in the middle. The period still hasn;t started yet, so Jongdae is just playing on his phone, scrolling through social media. Everytime he hears the door opening, he quickly looks up to take a peek at the person walking in, hoping that it is someone that he is familiar with, but everytime he is greeted with an unfamiliar (but like kinda familiar) face walking towards another person that is already in the class. (Jongdae was open to making friends but it was not the easiest thing to do when it seemed like everyone else already had their “person” in the class). 

He had accepted the fact that he was going to be a loner in this class when right when the bell rang, signaling the start of the period, the door swung open and there was Baekhyun Byun walking in. There he is, standing in all his glory. He looked really nice in his polo button up and khaki slacks. And the way he was running his hand through his ha- Jongdae noticed that he was staring (quite intensely) and focused on the phone in front of him. 

From what he had heard from upperclassmen was that the teacher started teaching the very first day of school, so he reached down to his backpack to grab a notebook and pencil when he heard footsteps walking towards him. Thinking nothing much of them, he continues to grab the materials needed out of his backpack before he hears a chair being pulled out next to him, the legs scraping on the floor. 

Out of instinct, he head turned towards the (should be) empty space beside him, only to see -guess who- Baekhyun Byun sheepishly pulling out the chair next to him. 

“Uh, is it alright if I sit here?” Baekhyun asked, pointing down at the chair. Jongdae discreetly looked around the room, seeing multiple empty seats (and a whole desk!!) unoccupied. Jongdae didn’t want to seem rude, so he just nodded and averted his gaze away (even though all he wanted to do was scream no and tell Baekhyun to stay away!!!). 

This was okay, Jongdae was going to be alright. He was completely over Baekhyun and if anything he could probably just become friends with him or something, like school friends, yeah school friends. 

“Alright ladies and gentleman, hello,” the teacher got up from his desk and started speaking, after the second bell had rung, “I’m Mr. Kim, and welcome to AP Biology.” 

“Now I will be completely honest with you, I have been told that this is one of the hardest classes that this school offers,” he walks around the room, “but don’t worry, I do have a system in place and resources to help you throughout the year.” 

Jongdae had heard about this system from his brother, but that was like three years ago. He guessed that it must’ve been really successful if Mr. Kim was still using it now, but honestly Jongdae was hoping that it wasn’t the -- 

“I call it a partner system, and basically the person that you are sitting next too,” Jongdae glances at Baekhyun, only to see him focused on the teacher, “will be your partner for at least the first semester, maybe even longer, depending on your class.” Mr. Kim just glances around the room, “There may be a group of three, and if you just want to move over to that table,” he points at a student who is sitting alone, and points in the direction of another table that is only occupied with one seat, “you two can be partners.”

Jongdae is okay with this, this is alright. If anything, maybe him and Baekhyun could be friends from this whole ordeal, which Jongdae really wouldn’t mind. 

“Partner work will mostly be labs and quizzes, tests will of course be individual assignments, but for the better part of the year, most of the work in this class will be partner work.

Some labs do require groups of 4, so in those moments, two pairs of partners will simply join together,” he clasped his hands together, “and create a group of four.” 

He then went on explaining the class syllabus, and started right onto the notes. 

The class was about 20 minutes into the notes when Jongdae heard a pencil clicking a couple times, and then a chair being pushed out and some rummaging sounds and a sigh. Jongdae was trying to sneak a glance over, because it was quite clear that Baekhyun was the one making all the noise when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Startled, Jongdae jumped up slightly in his seat. 

“Sorry!,” Baekhyun whispered beside him, “I just ran out of lead for my pencil and I guess I accidentally left my other pencils at home.” Jongdae was now fully staring at Baekhyun, and wow was he handsome. 

He was mesmerized by his looks for a couple of sentences before catching “-an I borrow a pencil?” 

“Oh, yeah, here you go,” Jongdae had passed over the pencil that he was currently using, and then reaching into his bag to grab another one. 

Baekhyun smiled brightly at Jongdae and said thanks 

Five minutes before the bell rang, Mr. Kim announced, “We will be starting a lab tomorrow, and we will be leaving the school to go to a stream to collect data so please wear shoes that you wouldn’t mind getting wet and if you want to be extra careful, bring an extra set of clothes. There’s a permission slip at the front desk that your parents will need to sign saying that they are giving you permission to go to the stream. Please pick it up before you leave. And as I mentioned before, before winter break starts, the class will vote to see if there should be a change of partners, but the majority wins, so we will see what happens then.” He glanced at the clock. “That’s it for today, see all of you guys tomorrow. Please stay in the classroom until the bell rings.” And with that he sat back down behind his desk. 

Jongdae quickly packed his stuff up, getting ready to meet Chanyeol and Sehun in the hallway. They decided to go out and pick up some food before practice starts for Chanyeol. 

“Hey Jongdae,” Baekhyun suddenly appears beside him, and before he can say anything back he keeps talking, “Thanks for letting me sit next to you! You were the only person I recognized in the room and I really didn’t want to sit alone.” Baekhyun looked shy, scratching the back of his neck. They were both now walking out of the classroom. “But I’m glad that I sat next to you! You know since we’re partners now! I’m excited for the class, Mr. Kim seems so cool, like his teaching style and everything,” and he just kept rambling on and following Jongdae. Jongdae honestly didn’t even know if Baekhyun was supposed to go the same direction as him, but he didn’t want to cut the boy off from talking. 

“Anyways, since we’re partners and stuff now, do you want to exch-” 

“Jongdae!!” 

Down the hallway was Chanyeol and Sehun, now walking towards them. Jongdae sped up his steps, trying to meet the two halfway. And of course Baekhyun followed him. 

“Oh, hey Baek!” Chanyeol said, pulling him into a hug, then going on to do this complicated handshake that Baekhyun followed along with. On the other hand, Sehun looked down to Jongdae (because for some reason he decided to grow like 2 feet over the summer, making him a good head taller than Jongdae), with an eyebrow raised, to question why the both of them were even walking together. Jongdae shook his head, as if signaling that he would explain later, and Sehun left it at that. 

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were both wrapped up in a conversation involving football when Sehun cleared his throat, clearly not caring that they were in the middle of a conversation, “So are we going to get going?” he asked, “We have to be done before six to get you back to practice, and I think Kyungsoo is already there waiting for us sooo,” he trailed off. 

“Kyungsoo is coming today?” Jongdae asked, surprised, “I thought he was busy and couldn’t make it.” 

“Yeah, but he texted the group chat earlier saying that whatever he had got canceled and that he would just meet us there.” 

“Really? Kyungsoo’s going to be there?,” Chanyeol butted in, suddenly interested in their conversation, “Well we better get going, I don’t want to leave him waiting there all alone.”

Baekhyun was just standing there, and it seemed rude to not offer an invitation, so before he could stop himself, Jongdae blurted out, “We're going to a cafe nearby, to celebrate your first last day and stuff, do you want to come with?” 

Both Chanyeol and Sehun gave him weird looks because in the past, Jongdae never ever would’ve just extend an invitation to Baekhyun like that, but since Jongdae is very much over Baekhyun, he didn’t see why he couldn’t ask him to come with. 

“Nah, I’m good, thanks for inviting me though!,” Baekhyun started walking back in the direction that he and Jongdae were coming from, “Maybe next time!” he waved goodbye. All of them waved back and Jongdae made a beeline for exit doors. 

“Boy, do you have some explaining to do.” 

\---

Sehun cackled. “Bro you’re so screwed.” 

Jongdae felt like he was being attacked. He really didn’t ask for his. Screw Sehun. 

“You’re telling me that you have to work with Baekhyun Byun, your crush of almost like _five years_ ,” Sehun reiterated, “and you really think that you’re not going to develop his crush again?! Heck, I think that you probably still like him.” 

“It was actually only four,” Jongdae weakly spit back, “and I didn’t ask for this?” 

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were both in their own little world, talking about god knows what, while Jongdae was just sitting there, picking at his burger while Sehun repeatedly attacked him (like actually). 

“I mean if you think about it, maybe he actually likes you, or at least is interested in you. I mean why would he just sit next to you for no reason?” 

“I don’t know,” Jongdae muttered. “I mean he did say that I was the only person he recognized in the room, but he seems like a friendly person, he could’ve easily made friends with anyone else.” 

“But, I don’t have a crush on him anymore,” Jongdae firmly stated, “so if anything we can just be friends.” 

The group had then fallen into silence, just eating their food and making small talk here and there, when Chanyeol decided to mention "Oh yeah, he's not dating Taeyeon anymore, just letting you know." 

"They broke up? When?" Jongdae was suddenly interested. The two of them seemed like a strong couple. Even after Taeyeon had graduated, she had stayed local, so during junior year he would sometimes see them together in public, going on dates and eating together. Now that he thinks about it, he did notice that he hasn't seen them together for a while, but he just brushed it off, thinking he was just never out when they were. 

"Something about long distance I think? She transferred out of state for the second semester because of something, I forgot what, but they apparently tried long distance but it just wasn't working for them." 

"Who broke up with who?" Sehun asked, and not going to lie, Jongdae was curious too. 

"I'm pretty sure it was mutual, but," he paused for dramatic affect, to which Sehun and Jongdae both rolled their eyes. Kyungsoo was just there eating and listening to their conversation. He didn't go to their school, but he is glad he doesn't because of all the stories he hears from the three. 

"Baekhyun said he was the one who brought it up, and Taeyeon agreed. I think they still talk together from time to time but they are strictly friends. I heard that Taeyeon is dating someone new from her campus but I'm not positive about that."

"Jongdae, maybe you should start crushing on him again," Sehun started, "because who knows..." 

"Stop it, just because he's now in a relationship doesn't mean he's interested in me," Jongdae did not want to get his hopes up. "Maybe he really just wants to be friends, and even you said that you don't know his sexuality, I don't think he even likes guys." 

"Actually," Sehun started but Chanyeol just nudged him, "Never mind." 

\----- 

The next day, all of Jongdae’s classes went well. It was still just the first week of school so if anything, teachers were just allowing students to settle back into school, get out of the summer break mentality. Of course all of his classes were chill, except for biology. 

Because today they were going to a lake! (Yikes)

But it seems that Jongdae had forgotten about this whole lab thingy because (1) Chanyeol actually took him to school today because he’s car was actually in the shop so he didn’t have a way of transportation to the lake and (2) he was not wearing shoes that he wanted to get wet, at all. 

Jongdae definitely did not want to go ask Mr. Kim for a ride because although that may seem like a reasonable idea, it would just be so awkward. (But he later found out that that would not work because Mr. Kim was already at the lake starting from the beginning of the day so yeah)

Jongdae was on his way to go and look for Chanyeol, to see if he could take him during the lunch period and he would just somehow find a way home when he heard someone call out his name. 

He turns around, to see Baekhyun making his way towards him. 

“Hey Jongdae! I was just talking to Chanyeol and he said that he drove you to school today,” Baekhyun caught up to him and now they were walking side by side, “So I guess you forgot about the lab?” 

“Yeah, I did,” Jongdae replied, laughing it off. Should he ask Baekhyun if he could take him? Or would that be weird? They haven’t known each other for that long, but they are going to be working together for the better part of the year, and they are going to the same place. It wouldn’t hurt to ask and this way he wouldn’t need to bother Chany-. 

“Do you need a ride? I can take you,” Baekhyun suddenly cut through his train of thought. 

“Are you sure?” Jongdae honestly just wanted to say yes, but he didn’t want to seem rude.

“Yeah, Of course! We’re going to the same place anyways.” 

Both of them made their way to the school parking lot. Jongdae had heard some talk here and there about Baekhyun having a _very_ nice car, but he never really looked into it (Jongdae was not a car person), but it would be a lie to say that he was not impressed when Baekhyun lead both of them to a sleek black audi. 

“You can just put your bag in the back seat,” he said as he went to his side of the car, opening the door to place his backpack in. 

Jongdae hurried to do the same, and then quickly placed himself in the passenger seat and WOW, was it a fancy car. 

Jongdae looked over to Baekhyun, seeing him get situated into the driver’s seat. He guesses that he was just so caught up staring at Baekhyun that he didn’t even realize Baekhyun leaning towards him. He was just frozen there as Baekhyun leaned across him bringing his face very _very_ close to Jongdae’s face. He was just about to say something when he heard the sound of a seat belt being pulled. Baekhyun pulled his face away while bringing Jongdae’s seat belt across his body and buckling him in. 

“Safety first,” Baekhyun smirked as he settled back into his seat and started pulling out of the parking lot. 

To say that Jongdae was a bit pink was an understatement, he was bright red. 

\---

They arrived at the lake, approaching the pavilion that was placed a couple meters away from the actual lake. Jongdae was wearing shorts, which was a good thing, but he really did not want to get his shoes wet. 

“Okay class, gather around,” Mr. Kim started. He then went into detail about the contents of the lab and how to do it correctly. Lab packets were handed out and everyone was told where the equipment was and what substance does what. 

And then it came the time to go into the lake. Jongdae definitely would of just went in bare foot, but Mr. Kim had clearly stated not to do that because there could be sharp rocks and broken pieces of glass in the water. 

Baekhyun seemed to have taken charge because one the teacher said it was alright to break into everyone’s respective groups and start working, he quickly gathered all the materials needed and headed towards the lake. 

Jongdae stood near the edge as Baekhyun stepped into the lake, collecting the water samples that both of them needed. If Baekhyun wasn’t going to say anything about him not getting into the water, then Jongdae was planning to stay on land. 

The bottles of swamp water were brought back to the table as the two of them started the experiment. They were trying to find the dissolved oxygen in the lake, so they had to take a sample of water then add substances like manganous sulfate solution and alkaline potassium iodide. 

Baekhyun was actually very good at bio. He seemed to have understood all the steps and concepts about the lab very well, and there were even times when he had to explain what was happening to Jongdae. 

“So from our results,” Baekhyun was scribbling something down on the paper, while using the calculator on his phone to figure out some calculations, “ the DO of the lake water is 8.43 ppm.” 

“What do you wanna major in for college?” Jongdae blurted out. He didn’t really want to straight up and ask him but he was curious and seeing Baekhyun get a grasp on the concepts so easily just made him even more curious. 

If Baekhyun was surprised he didn’t show it, instead he just hummed and answered, “I’m not sure, but I think I’m leaning towards some sort of engineering? Maybe biochem engineering or something like that. But I’m also leaning towards environmental engineering, I’m not really sure honestly.” 

Jongdae just nodded. “What about you?”

“I’m thinking the pre med route so probably something like biology or biochemistry.”

The both of them then just fell into easy conversation about plans about the future and just college in general. That was until they got to the second part of the lab and needed to go back into the lake. 

One thing lead to another, and somehow Jongdae was stepping into the lake getting the samples, but his shoes, his freaking shoes, were not meant for this situation and plus the wrong footing, Jongdae landed butt first into the water, but even worse, he must've grabbed Baekhyun as an attempt to save himself from falling and dragged him into the water too. 

Jongdae immediately tried to get up, without noticing that he was splashing water all over Baekhyun in his attempts. So when he finally got up and looked down, while only Jongdae’s bottoms and part of his shirt soaked, Baekhyun was completely drenched. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Jongdae repeatedly said, while helping Baekhyun out of that lake. “I’m so sorry, I swear I didn’t mean to drag you down, I swear it was just instinct to reach out to you, I’m so so sorry, please don’t hate me, I’m so sor-”

“Jongdae, calm down,” Baekhyun laughed, he was wiping the water off of his face and flicking his soaked hair back. “It’s okay, I know that it was a mistake, no hard feelings.”

And that’s when Mr. Kim decided to make his way over to the two, “Well I guess it was too hot out for you and you guys wanted to cool off!,” He laughed at his own joke (it really wasn’t that funny though), “I hope you guys brought spare clothing, the changing rooms are in that direction,” he then pointed to his right, towards a little hut. 

Baekhyun was already making his ways towards his car to grab the spare clothes that he probably had because he didn’t forget about the lab, while Jongdae kind of stood that not knowing what to do because his pants were sticking against his legs and his socks were wet and he literally had no solutions to the problem. 

“Come on Jongdae,” Baekhyun shouted after him, “I have some spare clothes that you can borrow.”

If Jongdae hadn’t promised himself that he was not going to fall for Baekhyun again, he probably would’ve shouted ‘I love you’ right then and there. 

\---

Baekhyun was over at Jongdae's house to finish up a lab that they had to write for biology. They could've finished it in class, but Baekhyun had to leave the class period early because of an away football game. Jongdae had repeatedly reassured him that he was alright with finishing the lab by himself, but Baekhyun was stubborn and was adamant that they finished the lab together, hence why they were both at Jongdae's house on Saturday. 

"And we're finally done!" Jongdae excitedly stated. Although he said he would finished it himself, he was secretly glad that Baekhyun insisted that he would help because this lab was difficult. "Do you want to submit it or should I?" 

"You can submit it," Baekhyun was already packing up his computer, getting ready to leave. But after he had put everything away, he stayed on the ground (yes, for some reason they were working on the floor) and just looked at Jongdae and asked, "Do you wanna get food?" 

And that's how they ended up, still sitting on the floor but now instead of surrounded by paper and textbooks, it was pizza. 

"So I have a question, but please don't get offended by it," Baekhyun seemed nervous, which made Jongdae nervous because what did he want to ask? Jongdae nodded encouraging him to go on. 

"Are you gay?" 

Jongdae choked on the water he was drinking, going into a coughing fit. He did not expect that. Baekhyun was immediately beside him, handing him napkins and patting his back. 

Once he had calmed down he answered the question, "I'm sorry that just caught me by surprise," Jongdae started. Baekhyun looked guilty and embarrassed, "But yes I am, can I ask why you asked that?" 

"Well I guessed I kinda came to the realization that I'm bi a couple months back," Baekhyun admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "I already told a couple of my friends but I still have to tell my parents and stuff," he trailed off. 

"I mean take as much time you need before you tell anyone," Jongdae started, trying his best to offer the tiniest bit of advice he could think of, "but being bi doesn't change anything about you, you're still the same person. And I'm not sure about your relationship with your parents but if they love you, they should accept you for who you are." 

Baekhyun nodded, then offered a smile to Jongdae, "Thank you." 

"Anytime."

\---

“So the nitrogen cycle,” Baekhyun started, “it’s a gas, N **2** , but since plants can’t process it in that form, it can’t get into the system of organisms,” he looked at Jongdae for conformation. Jongdae nodded as a signal for him to continue and he was on the right track. The two of them had gotten closer ever since the lake incident; nothing like becoming friends with the person that you pushed into a lake right? Baekhyun had suggested that they set up mini study sessions about two to three times a week, just to make sure that the information from each unit is retained and allows the both of them to ask each other questions if one doesn’t understand the concept. (because two brains are better than one, was Baekhyun’s reasoning - and he wasn’t wrong) Jongdae agreed because why not. “But there is a bacteria, called,” Baekhyun paused and took a quick glance at the notebook lying in between them.

“Nitrogen fixing bac-” 

“I saw that,” Jongdae sang out, teasing Baekhyun. Baekhyun just glared at Jongdae, then letting out a silent scream, letting all his frustration out. Jongdae just laughed. 

They (aka Baekhyun) have been reviewing the nitrogen cycle for almost a hour now. Although most of the topics they spoke about in class came easy to Baekhyun, for whatever reason, he just couldn’t get the order of the cycle correct nor remember the name of all the different bacterias. 

“Let’s take a break,” Baekhyun stated, “Our brains need to take a break.” He closed the textbook in front of him. Jongdae wasn’t going to be fooled, he knew that once the textbook was closed, there was no way it was going to be opened again for the rest of the night. But instead of stopping Baekhyun from closing the book, Jongdae started packing up his stuff too. They’ve been going at it for almost 3 hours now, and it was time to call it a day. 

“I can’t believe the year is almost over,” Baekhyun started, “who knew that high school was actually going to speed past as fast people said it was.” 

Jongdae nodded in agreement. It was crazy to think that in less than a year, he would be in a completely new environment. A comfortable silence settled among the two of them, just staring off into the sky as the sun was slowly setting. But of course, Jongdae had to sneeze, disturbing the mood that had been set. He never dealt well with the cold. 

Baekhyun seemed to notice it because he immediately shrugged off his sweatshirt and placed it over Jongdae’s shoulders. 

A thanks was mumbled and a blush was creeping onto Jongdae’s cheeks. He tries to not feel anything by all these little gestures made by Baekhyun, but his heart can’t stop beating faster every time he does something like this. 

“To be honest,” Baekhyun started, “I wished we became friends sooner.” 

Jongdae hummed, agreeing. But to Jongdae maybe they have been? They were exchanging notes for a solid six months, maybe even more… would it be correct to label them as friends during that time period? But Baekhyun still didn’t know that he was Chen, and he honestly was not going to bring it up anytime soon. 

“And even though we’re friends, and we talk to each other a lot,” Baekhyun continued, “I don't like basic facts about you, like every time we hang out, it’s to do school work…” 

"There was that one time when we got pizza after studying," Jongdae mentioned, "and when we went to the mall after one of the labs." 

"Okay, so maybe we don't always just go to school work, but every time we hang out it’s because of school and then we usually just go somewhere after finishing what we need to do."

“Well, yeah, I guess, but we’re school friends, obviously we would just be hanging out to do school work.” Jongdae stated. The look of betrayal covered Baekhyun’s face, “What do you mean just school friends? I thought we were closer than that, you wounded me Jongdae.” 

Jongdae laughed as Baekhyun kept whining, “Okay, fine. We’re actual friends okay?”

Baekhyun smiled at him, and boy did that make Jongdae’s stomach feel all weird. “Yes!! But still, I don’t know anything about you,” he trailed off, when all of the sudden he said, “When’s your birthday?” 

Jongdae stared at him, “We’re not doing this right now.” 

“Why not?!” Baekhyun then just rambled on. “You know that we aren’t going to study anymore, and we both don’t have anywhere to go after this, at least I don’t and honestly I don’t think you really do either, no offense, but we’ve been in each other’s lives for like almost a whole school year so why not get to know each ot-” 

“September 21st.”

“Huh?” 

“My birthday, it’s September 21st.” 

“I’m older than youuuuu,” Baekhyun sang, “You should call me hyung.” 

Jongdae looked at the other weirdly, “When’s your birthday? I doubt you’re that much older than me. And I am not going to call you hyung, I don’t even call my own brother that.” 

“My birthday’s May 6th, so I'm almost a half a year older than you!” 

“Six months is pushing it, it’s more like four months.” 

“That’s like the same thing,” Baekhyun said nonchalantly, when clearly six did not equal four, “but you don’t use honorifics at home?” 

“Yeah, my parents never pushed us to use them so I never got into the habit of using them.” 

“Wait, so do you speak korean?” 

And that’s when Jongdae went on a tangent about how he was born in America and his parents were already kind of Americanized, not saying that he has oppressed his Korean culture, but his parents just did not encourage their children to follow Korean mannerisms, hence he never did. But Jongdae did understand korean, and spoke it (albeit very broken korean). 

Both then fell into a comfortable conversion, getting to know each other more and more and the sun slowly set and the beautiful hues for orange and pink turned into dark blue, stars piercing through the night sky. 

“You did not,” Jongdae was laughing so hard, that tears were coming out of his eyes, “Sehun must’ve been so embarrassed.” 

The both of them had somehow gotten on the topic of Sehun, both sharing embarrassing stories of the younger. While Jongdae had provided Baekhyun with childhood memories that only he would know, Baekhyun had returned the favor by sharing locker room stories. Both of them had so much dirt on Sehun now. 

Baekhyun was now just talking about how during an end of the season banquet, the whole team was playing a game where a question was pulled out of a football helmet and the players had to pick a person on the team that best represented the questions, like superlatives almost. 

Baekhyun had pulled out the question ‘What player would you want to switch bodies with?’ and after some hard deliberation and thought he answered ‘Sehun’. Many of the players agreed with him and of course there was Chanyeol who shouted, ‘Hey, why not me?’. When asked why he picked Sehun, instead of pointing out his height or his broad shoulders he answered with, ‘You know the phrase that men should have big noses right?’ 

The team immediately started screaming and hollering after that statement. 

“No actually the brat looked satisfied and sat there and accepted all the praises,” Baekhyun answered, basking in the memories of that day. That was the year their school had made it to states and won, it was a whole big celebration and the feeling of accomplishment was unreal. 

“That sounds like him, he’s so shameless you know,” Jongdae started, “I love him like a brother, but sometimes his ideas literally make no sense.” Caught up in the moment, his mouth started talking before his brain could stop him. 

“Like he went through that phase where he was literally dating someone new every like 2 weeks,” Jongdae exaggerated, “And then there was a point where he got tired of breaking up with the girls.”

And before his brain could stop him, “He knew my weakness was bubble tea, and he used it against me to get me to bre-”

It was too late. He literally just exposed himself. He squeezed his eyes tight together, as if that would make this situation disappear. 

“It was you,” Baekhyun finally said, “It was actually you.” 

Jongdae began slowly opening his eyes, only to find Baekhyun staring intensely at him. 

“I mean I had seen, what I thought was you, a couple times in front of my locker sophomore year, but I could never see your face clearly,” Baekhyun looked away, “And then when I saw your handwriting in class, it looked so familiar, but I didn’t want to bring it up since you never brought it up and I could’ve just been imagining things but it was actually you.” 

It seems as if Baekhyun was just talking to himself because when he looked back in Jongdae’s direction he was gone. 

\---

Jongdae was clearly avoiding Baekhyun, but it was kind of difficult considering that they sit next to each other in biology. He didn’t want to be the person that went up to the teacher, complaining about his problems and how he could not sit next to Baekhyun, so he sucked it up and pretended that Baekhyun was not that. 

To be fair, he did feel bad for ignoring said boy because Baekhyun would constantly make efforts to talk to Jongdae, heck he even told Chanyeol and Sehun about the whole issue and both of them were encouraging him to talk to Baekhyun. 

“Jongdae, you should literally just talk to him and explain everything,” Sehun started a couple days after the whole incident. They all decided to go out to get some food, but if Jongdae knew this was a trap to get him to talk to Baekhyun, he would’ve never agreed to going. “He feels really bad, although he shouldn’t because it was you who ran away before you guys could talk it out.” 

“I agree with Sehun,” Chanyeol parroted, “He seems like he just wants to talk it out, and he doesn’t seem mad. If anything, he seems worried.” 

Jongdae just sat in silence, staring outside the car while Sehun and Chanyeol looked at each other and shook their heads. 

\----- 

“Okay class, this year because of the snow, due dates got pushed back, but the first semester is officially over, according to the district, which means it’s time to vote if, as a class, you guys want to switch it up, and find a new person to work with, or stay the same.” 

It was near the end of the class, and to say Jongdae was looking forward to this was an understatement. He was excited. Things between him and Baekhyun were still very awkward and even though chances of most of his class voting that they switch it up were extremely low, Jongdae still had hope. 

“Now, we’re going to go back to first grade, and place our heads down so no one can see whose voting what, I don’t want anyone to feel guilty for wanting to switch partners and I don’t want the other person to be butthurt,” Mr. Kim announced, “but don’t fall asleep on me.” 

Jongdae placed his head down and slightly raised his hand when Mr. Kim called out “if you want to change partners raise your hand.” 

“Okay class, results are in, and it looks like everyone’s pairings are,” he dragged out the ‘e’ trying to create some sort of suspense, “staying the same! So if you wanted to work with someone new, tough luck.” It seemed as if Mr. Kim was looking right at Jongdae when he said that. 

\-----

Jongdae had started talking to Baekhyun again, but would immediately shut down the conversation or change the topic if he ever brought up the note thing. 

The two of them eventually just fell back into their old relationship, but if anything seemed like Baekhyun was more open with Jongdae. He was more touchy with him, always asking him to go grab something to eat, or if he needed to buy something he would always mention it to Jongdae and somehow drag him along. 

When he was driving, he would (what Jongdae believes to be) unconsciously lace their fingers together, and if their hands weren’t laced together, his hand would be on his thigh. 

Jongdae was naturally a messy eater, so whenever something got on his face, instead of telling him, Baekhyun would lean over and use his thumb and wipe the food off of Jongdae’s face, then proceed to lick it off his own thumb. Or how Baekhyun would constantly go like “Ah” to get Jongdae to feed him some of his food (even though most of the time they order the same thing) and then return the favor. 

Whenever Jongdae was cold, Baekhyun would have a sweatshirt to lend him (this has become such a common occurrence that there is a whole section in Jongdae’s closet dedicated to Baekhyun’s hoodies). 

They would now even walk to class together after lunch since now Jongdae sits with all the football players in that lunch period. 

Jongdae did not know what was going on between them but he didn’t know if his heart could take anymore. 

(“He’s literally confessing his love for you,” Sehun frustratingly said, “but you’re over here too oblivious to see it and do anything about it!” 

“I think he’s just becoming comfortable with me,” Jongdae muttered, “I mean he’s usually really touchy with his friends anyways.” 

“Yeah, maybe he is, BUT IT’S DIFFERENT WITH YOU!” 

Sehun sighed, Jongdae was so hopeless sometimes)

\------

It was finally graduation day. 

Here was Jongdae all dressed up in his cap and gown. He had already accepted his diploma and was ready to go and get lunch with his family, but on the last day of classes for seniors, he found a note inside his locker saying to wait by the 400’s block after the ceremony. 

It was clear that the note was from Baekhyun, but Jongdae decided to indulge in his antics since this would probably be the last time he would see Baekhyun for a while. 

When he approached the hallway, all he saw were sticky notes lining the hallways, and there were various drawings and little phrases written on them, like “I like your smile” or “I want to be the only one who makes you laugh.”

He had no idea what was going on, but as he looked at the notes, he could feel his heart beating faster and his smile getting wider, the blush on his face getting darker. He slowly moved down the row of notes, ending at Baekhyun locker, where the last note said “turn around.” 

He was expecting it but he was still surprised to see Baekhyun standing there in his cap and gown, with a note stuck on his head, which caused Jongdae to giggle, and right there on the note it said, “Will you go on a date with me?”

To say Jongdae was shocked was an understatement. Who would’ve thought that after all these years of pinning after Baekhyun, he would end up here, with Baekhyun asking him out. 

Baekhyun stood there expectantly, Jongdae was just standing there staring at him and Baekhyun was getting nervous. He finally broke the silence. 

“So?” 

Jongdae was not going to let twelve year old him down. 

\---

_Two weeks later_

“But like, why did you stop responding to me,” Baekhyun asked as the both of them were cuddling on the couch, watching TV. 

“Oh, I just forgot to,” Jongdae easily replied, not taking his eyes off the TV. 

“WHAT?!,” Baekhyun sat up straight from the couch, looking at Jongdae, “I spent months trying to figure out why you never replied, I even asked around my teammates, making up fictional scenarios… AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE REASON I NEVER GOT ONE BACK WAS BECAUSE YOU FORGOT?!”

Jongdae just laughed at Baekhyun, pulling him back down onto the couch so he could snuggle into his chest. “Yeah, it’s not that deep Baek.” 

Baekhyun was about the get up again but Jongdae placed his entire body weight onto him, not letting him get off of the couch (because he was comfortable), and it seemed like Baekhyun understood because he just settled back down running his hands through Jongdae’s hair, “Fine, but you owe me a kiss for everyday that you could’ve wrote me back, so like 1000 kisses.” 

“Okay, so once I reach 1000 kisses, no more kisses for you?” Jongdae sat up and started placing kisses all over Baekhyun’s face, counting after each one. 

“No!!” Baekhyun exclaimed, cupping Jongdae’s face and pushing it away from his own, “It means that you have to give me 1000 kisses before you leave for college,” he squeezed Jongdae’s cheeks between his hands, making his lips pucker, “and plus those don’t count, only these do.” 

And Baekhyun pulled Jongdae’s face close and covered his lips with his own. 

**Author's Note:**

> they both end up going to different colleges but close enough that jongdae can go to every single one of baekhyun's football games and cheer him on and baekhyun can visit jongdae every other weekend to have little coffee dates where they are supposed to be doing school work but jongdae is really the only one that does work while baekhyun just stares at him :)))))
> 
> ⁽ˢᵒʳʳʸ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ ✨ᵖˡᵒᵗ ʰᵒˡᵉˢ✨ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ʷʳⁱᵗⁱⁿᵍ ᑫᵘᵃˡⁱᵗʸ ᵍᵒⁱⁿᵍ ᵈᵒʷⁿʰⁱˡˡ ᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ ᵖʳᵒᵍʳᵉˢˢᵉˢ ᵇᵉᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᵐʸ ᵇʳᵃⁱⁿ ⁱˢ ˢᵗᵘᵖⁱᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ˡⁱᵗᵉʳᵃˡˡʸ ˢᵗᵒᵖᵖᵉᵈ ᶠᵘⁿᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿⁱⁿᵍ ⁰⁻⁰⁾


End file.
